Ifs capabilities?!?!?!?!

[feared100]

Hey there! I currently have a 97 XLT on a 3 inch body lift with 28 inch tires. waiting on 33s. Now, I live on Long Island NY. Here there is a lot of beaches, and some mud and dirt. Nothing crazy. Buttttt there is Rausch Creek offroad park 3 hours from me. I was wondering if an upgraded IFS would be capable of handling Rausch Creek. Other than the green trails. If not then I might eventually go with the ever so popular SAS.

Will an upgraded IFS be capable of mud, sand, dirt, and most importantly mild rock crawling. This will be the deciding factor as to what I will be doing to my explorer in the future. I have been researching a lot. But nothing too helpful.

kit 1: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/slf-k494/overview/make/ford/model/explorer

The superlift 4inch suspension lift. I know that it beefs up the suspension, and it obviously lifts the truck to clear larger tires. But is that something that i would be happy with?

kit 2: http://www.btf-fab.com a kit from BTF Fabrication. I talked to Brandon and he recommended me :We do have the 4x4 kit, it pulls a realistic 12" travel once it's bumped and
strapped. It will cycle 13" before the cv joints start to bind up.
The kit includes upper and lower control arms, new 300m axles with rebuilt cv
joints, tierod extenders, and extended brakelines.
Kit price is $2850

kit 3:http://www.dixonbrosracing.com/content/view/8/2/ The last IFS kit I am considering. and most definitely the most expensive. I know of a couple people having this kit. And they love it. One guy I talked to on instagram has it. He showed me a pic of it flexing. And it flexed pretty well.

If all of this is either too much, or I searched in the wrong places let me know. But if anyone has any comments or any knowledge please let me know as well.... THANKS!!!!!!!!!

rich c.

 

[Blee1099]

I had a similar rig like yours.. 97 with torsion twist and 3" body lift. I was capable of running upper blues all day at Rausch Creek many years ago.. Just look thru some of the old albums and trip reports for all the runs there.. We did many guided runs for many years

 

[Rick]

Here's a good thread to check out. It really shows what can be done with a 2nd gen Explorer for not too much money.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=15264

That rig has wheeled some killer trails all across the country.

 

[feared100]

Wow. That was eye opening. I was just worried about the capability of ifs. Since all of my friends are Jeep owner's. And they all have solid axles. Obviously. I thought that ifs is not as capable. But I also heard the Dana 30 or 35 is weaker than the explorers ifs? Idk. Either way Thank you for you replies.

But would one of those kits help out?

 

[Rick]

BTF or Dixon Bros. IMO, forget the Superlift kit for the 2nd gen.

 

[feared100]

You think so?

 

[4x4junkie]

Wow. That was eye opening. I was just worried about the capability of ifs. Since all of my friends are Jeep owner's. And they all have solid axles. Obviously. I thought that ifs is not as capable. But I also heard the Dana 30 or 35 is weaker than the explorers ifs? Idk. Either way Thank you for you replies.

But would one of those kits help out?

A lot of it's capability is with the driver (a good driver with an IFS rig can go a lot farther than a mediocre/average driver in a Jeep or other SA rig).
I would put the driveline parts of the 2nd-gen's IFS maybe about on par with a YJ or XJ Dana30 strengthwise (and a little stronger when it comes to the housing/suspension itself), but of course it still won't have the articulation ability of the SA.

Unless you're doing a lot of high-speed "prerunning" stuff though (or you intend to), I'd lean more toward the SAS over spending the bucks on a high-$$$ IFS kit. The return on investment with a SAS is much better for general trail work/crawling due to it's greater flex and much easier upgradability. The IFS has a myriad of parts that would need upgrading for the same level of trail performance (CV joints, half-shafts, A-arms, ball joints, etc.), and eventually you'll reach the limits of it's centersection (gears and diff housing) where there's little else left you can do other than swap it out for something bigger as well (at which point you may just as well just do the SAS anyway).

And agreed, the Superlift lift kit is just that... a lift kit. It does little to boost the suspension's performance or durability.

 

[feared100]

A lot of it's capability is with the driver (a good driver with an IFS rig can go a lot farther than a mediocre/average driver in a Jeep or other SA rig).
I would put the driveline parts of the 2nd-gen's IFS maybe about on par with a YJ or XJ Dana30 strengthwise (and a little stronger when it comes to the housing/suspension itself), but of course it still won't have the articulation ability of the SA.

Unless you're doing a lot of high-speed "prerunning" stuff though (or you intend to), I'd lean more toward the SAS over spending the bucks on a high-$$$ IFS kit. The return on investment with a SAS is much better for general trail work/crawling due to it's greater flex and much easier upgradability. The IFS has a myriad of parts that would need upgrading for the same level of trail performance (CV joints, half-shafts, A-arms, ball joints, etc.), and eventually you'll reach the limits of it's centersection (gears and diff housing) where there's little else left you can do other than swap it out for something bigger as well (at which point you may just as well just do the SAS anyway).

And agreed, the Superlift lift kit is just that... a lift kit. It does little to boost the suspension's performance or durability.

So you think the SAS would be a smarter idea, as opposed to an upgraded IFS? reason I like the ifs is because there are a lot of dirt and bumpy roads near me. Therefore I feel it would handle the terrain better than the SAS. By handling I mean going down them at high speeds.

(SAS QUESTION) could I get bumpstops for the sas if I do it? Because my friend has them on his wrangler with 35s. thing is a tank. But I know that those help with the high speed stuff.

 

[4x4junkie]

No doubt, IFS is definitely better for going fast over bumps. It's the strength of it's driveline parts (CVs, differential, etc) that becomes an issue sooner than on say, a Dana44 solid axle (unfortunate you don't have an older Explorer, the HP D35 TTB axle is really the best of both worlds when it comes to rock crawling to running the Baja).

You can still get a solid axle to do quite well at speed though (bumpstops do help, IFS or SA actually doesn't matter there, they'll benefit both just as well), though there will always be it's unsprung weight issue you'll have to work around, but it can be done. I guess you'll need to decide which is more important to you: Simple durability that can save you a bit of cash (the SAS), or plush high-speed running but at a much higher cost if you also want to include some crawling into the mix (requiring it be reliable with a locking differential).

For me it would be the SAS, since I do a lot more crawling and other trail work than blasting around through the deserts.

 

[feared100]

[MENTION=9584]4x4junkie[/MENTION] seems like you know about your axles. I think I am going the sas route. BUT my friend has a lifted jk on 35s locked AND regeared. Its a dana 30. (I know this question is old) but regarding what my friends had in the dana 30 from a 2012 wrangler locked and regeared to 4.55 I think. Would it be a good decision to get it. Also he would charge me $500 for the entire axle. He is getting two dana 60s for the front and rear. On 38s. Thing is nuts. Lol

 

[4x4junkie]

A JK Dana30 is pretty wide (like fullsize F-150 wide), though it is a cut above the earlier D30s (XJ, YJ, TJ) strengthwise, due to it's much larger pinion shaft.

If you were planning on narrowing the axle down, I'd suggest using a '76-'79 F-150 ('78-'79 Bronco) Dana44 and narrow that instead, as these axles have a lot more to offer than the JK D30 (stronger housing, stronger gears, more gear options, locking hubs, better brakes, etc.). Especially with him wanting $500 for it. If it happens to have an ARB locker though, then maybe it's not quite as bad of a deal, though be sure to do all the customary reinforcements on it's housing if your friend hasn't already done so.

 

[PhantomFord]

A JK Dana30 is pretty wide (like fullsize F-150 wide), though it is a cut above the earlier D30s (XJ, YJ, TJ) strengthwise, due to it's much larger pinion shaft.

If you were planning on narrowing the axle down, I'd suggest using a '76-'79 F-150 ('78-'79 Bronco) Dana44 and narrow that instead, as these axles have a lot more to offer than the JK D30 (stronger housing, stronger gears, more gear options, locking hubs, better brakes, etc.). Especially with him wanting $500 for it. If it happens to have an ARB locker though, then maybe it's not quite as bad of a deal, though be sure to do all the customary reinforcements on it's housing if your friend hasn't already done so.

I believe the early bronco had a narrow hp d44.

 

[james t]

I believe the early bronco had a narrow hp d44.

The EB 44's are narrow but all are low pinion.

 

[4x4junkie]

The EB 44's are narrow but all are low pinion.

Yep.
EB44s are nothing special. They even got tiny u-joints (though the aftermarket has fixes for that). But people sure do think they're made of gold though (hell, they think the whole vehicle is gold even).